


Work Ethic

by Oft



Category: Tron: Uprising
Genre: Bondage, Dom/sub, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-26
Updated: 2013-08-03
Packaged: 2017-12-06 13:42:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/736318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oft/pseuds/Oft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pavel makes a stop at the garage when Able is out. . . .</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Pavel stood in the middle of the bay again, frowning as his guards scattered to check on the new order of repairs made. Funny how I keep having to return, Pavel narrated at himself. He stopped and stared at Zed, a good few inches shorter than himself and frowned harder as Zed took a moment and smiled between stuttering excuses.

‘STOP BEING SO HAPPY! You should realize your very LIVES are on the line here … where IS your boss, by the way?’ Pavel scanned the bay for someone taller, but Zed kept talking.

‘That would be me today.’ He let out a nervous chuckle, and then found Pavel’s face in his, frowning even harder… and squinting.

‘You have GOT to be kidding me.’ Zed nervously shrugged, interrupted with another nervous chuckle. ‘Anything you need, I can do, I swear.’

‘Oh you’ll swear when I am done with you, alright.’ Zed suddenly lost his smile as it appeared on Pavel’s face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Zed had reluctantly went with Pavel to the office. Pavel left the guards outside, and circled the interior like he owned it.

'Recite to me again the list of stuff already done, and what's left.' He abruptly faced Zed from across the desk. 'And keep in mind I don't have the patience that Paige does, not that she gets anything done here either.' He continued circling the room, prodding at various bits of Able's belongings. Zed wanted to scream at him to stop touching everything, but the sooner he did what the leiutenant asked, the sooner he'd leave.

'I'm not hearing anything.' Pavel's voice had gone weedly and slightly sing-song, and Zed dropped the pad to the desk, quickly scrolling through order lists to find the one Pavel wanted. He began a quick overview of functions completed before starting on the list of items still to be met. Pavel was suddenly over his shoulder, barely against Zed's back, breathing steady against Zed's ear.

'Slow down, I want the details of those.' It was almost as if Pavel didn't KNOW what was being done, Zed thought to himself before the first echoes of circuit touch radiated from the back node of his hip. He stuttered to a stop and stood a little straighter. He dared to turn his head, studying Pavel's expression, which happened to be his usual of snide contempt, gazing down his nose at Zed.

'WELL? I didn't say you could STOP.' Pavel shoved him forward again, but his hand didn't leave the long trail of light that curled around Zed's dock. Zed could swear his circuits betrayed him with a flush of color as he resumed the listcheck, and the very faint chuckle from Pavel confirmed it. Pavel's hand moved down, past the node, and under the curve that led down to the back of Zed's thigh. Zed stood straight again in an instant, clenching his jaw and knocking an elbow against Pavel's chest as he did. Pavel brushed at himself as if it was a minor inconvenience, then Zed was against the table, Pavel pinning him down with his entire body.

'I wouldn't do that again if I were you. I'd have blasted this entire garage into nothing if you weren't so NECCESSARY.' He hissed the last bit as he ground against Zed. Then Pavel's hands were on him, derezzing the suit from about his waist, pawing at skin and circuit. 'Keep reading.' Pavel growled against Zed before biting, teeth digging into the circuits at Zed's shoulder. Zed cried out at the sudden pain before resuming reciting the list of work. His voice was shaky at best, getting worse with every inch further that Pavel's hands crawled over him until he snapped and grabbed at Pavel's hands, attempting to pull them off him. He struggled, not unlike when he trained with Beck, but this is was pointedly different. There was no grace or flirty playgrabs going on, just force and irate shoving. 

And this round went badly, also much like his training rounds. Zed had to admit he was not built for fighting. Pavel had just enough of an edge over him that he was caught and plowed backwards against the desk again, and when Pavel was sure Zed was secured against the furniture, he resumed his exploration.

Fingers followed the circuits that led down Zed's abdomen, down towards his cock, and Pavel made sure Zed knew he enjoyed fondling Zed's equipment before pushing a hand beneath, pressing thighs aside with it and his knees before searching for Zed's port. Zed tried struggling again.

'You've got spark. I like that. Makes what I'm going to do more enjoyable.' Zed cringed at the smile Pavel gave him, and tried to kick. It was a vain effort, and lack of leverage thwarted him into letting his limbs drop with a groan of exasperation which cut abruptly into a gasp as Pavel's fingers followed the line of pulse within him. Legs tensed and his hips rose, tied between trying to pull away and urging the sensation deeper, to his chagrin. Pavel nearly cackled.

'OH, I DEFINITELY LIKE YOU!' And Pavel thrust fingers in farther, dropping himself to crouch between Zed's thighs to watch as he pumped his fingers into Zed's ass. Zed rocked his hips in response, trying to pull his wrists out of Pavel's tight grip. Pavel only let go to swipe his palm over Zed's chest and hip, sweeping over thigh before wrapping around Zed's rising member, pumping slowly in time with the thrust of fingers. Zed clamped his hands on the edge of the desk, gripping it hard.

'Ssssstop!' Zed tried to sound convincing, but his voice wavered at the effort while his body pressed into Pavel's hands. Pavel's expression rose, disbelieving. He shook his head once before smiling again.

'Oh, I don't think I will.' He pumped harder, then leaned forward, ghosting breath over the circuits that ran along Zed's balls before following it with tongue, and sucking hard before moving on. He stood back up, tongue following cock till he reached the head, then slid his mouth down. Zed let loose a startled moan as Pavel sucked hard, and raised his hand to push at Pavel. The lieutenant ignored him, batting his hand away as he swallowed Zed a few more times, then his hand replaced his mouth once again, and his fingers vacated Zed's port.

'Keep fighting me, I want this memorable.' Pavel's voice was a harsh whisper now, but Zed had no intention of halting his fight anyways. He locked fingers around Pavel's wrist, trying to pull him off, even as he bucked into the other program's grip. Pavel concentrated on derezzing his suit just enough, his hard cock springing free to slap against Zed's skin. He continued jerking Zed off while rubbing the head of his cock along the underside, pressing against Zed's balls. Small thrusts ran at odds with the beats he set on the handjob, and Zed squirmed more, inadvertantly opening the way by splaying his thighs further apart to push away Pavel's hard shaft.

'INTERESTING. You want to RETURN the favor? Be my guest!' Pavel grabbed Zed's hand and locked it around his shaft with his own hand, pumping hard.

'No, I don't want this!' Zed protested, which only made Pavel grin and angle his cock down, the head pressing against Zed's opening while continuing the thrust into their overlapping hands. Then he slipped out, pulling Zed's hand aside, then he was in. A quick hard shove, and Zed cried out. Pavel gasped at the sensation, reveled in it momentarily before pistoning his hips fast and hard. His stroking of Zed ground to a halt, and now used Zed's cock merely as a way to pin Zed into place while he fucked the smaller program against the desk.

At some point, Pavel let go, draping himself over Zed as he thrust, setting his mouth at Zed's ear.

'What I WOULD DO . . . what I'd REALLY like to do . . . is keep you. I'd strap you down . . . lock your legs apart . . . hands behind your head . . . I'd interface any time I wished. I'd make you beg me . . . ' Pavel panted every word against Zed, and Zed tried squirming away. Pavel's hand braced Zed's cheek, removing his ability to turn away and not listen. 'I'd beat you . . . I'd embrace you . . . you would love me for it . . . you would love me . . . you would beg FOR me . . . ' Then Pavel was hiccuping moans against Zed, breathing along already sensitive circuitry, and the echo of overload started to take him, filling Zed with the buzz and shock of Pavel's orgasm. Pavel slammed harder, riding out the wave of it as Zed started to buck and squeeze around him. Zed couldn't help himself as he thrust his hips up against Pavel, the friction catching him enough to finish the job, and he came between them, liquid glow smearing then dripping from between them as Pavel finally ground to a halt, hitting reboot as he collaped against Zed. Zed tried pushing him off as he flickered into shutdown, but his body refused to comply, and he passed into the dark of reboot as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The both of them stood out in the open of the hangar, Zed stuttering another reply to Pavel's seemingly disgusted delivery of questions, but Zed caught the glimmer in Pavel's eye. He and his garrison would return in short order for an 'update', and Zed shuddered. When they finally left, Mara stepped over.

'What DID he want, anyways? And are you okay?' She laid a hand on his arm. Zed pulled away, looking a bit ill. 

'I'm fine. The jerk wants regular updates on the busywork they're going to bury us with . . . and . . . don't tell Able we were in the office. I don't want to get blamed if it turns out he . . . busted something.' Mara nodded, not quite believing the part about him being fine, but she knew when not to push, and promptly returned to her work as Zed tended to another tank.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pavel returns to the garage, true to his word.

Eight shifts later, Pavel returned. Able was on the floor to greet him, but Pavel was obviously not interested. He gave a quick approval and dismissal, letting the guards scatter to various units to hover as the last of upgrades were completed on the tanks. Pavel's attention was elsewhere as he scanned the bay, and Zed groaned when Pavel came striding in his direction. Beck paused.

'Did you do something, Zed?' There was precious little time between the question and Pavel's arrival.

'Not me. HIM. Crazy bastard probably wants to get all touchy with me again.' Zed shuddered, then tried to look his busiest and turned away. Beck stepped between him and the incoming lieutenant.

'Anything you need some help with sir?' Beck did his best, feet moving quickly to always keep between Pavel and Zed.

'Nothing YOU can help me with.' Pavel's lips upturned in his trademark look of disdain before setting a hand on Beck to shove him aside. Beck turned, grabbing Pavel's shoulder and roughly spun him about.

'We're all hard at work finishing your tanks. If there is a problem, I think I can take care of it pretty quickly.' Beck's brows furrowed, and Zed scrambled away around to the other side of the tank, popping up once he reached the other side to gesture at Beck that he was moving to the other end of the bay, then quickly set off. Pavel knew delay tactics when he saw them, and slammed Beck back against his own tank, scattering tools over the floor.

'Here's what YOU can do- STAY OUT OF MY WAY. And if you EVER touch me again, or SPEAK to me when I've not asked you a question, I will have you derezzed. GOT IT?' Beck held back a smirk, deftly masked with mock fear.

'Got it.' He raised his hands in surrender, and Pavel shoved him one more time, swinging his attention around to the next tank. He gave it a cursory look, then turned back, glaring at Beck as he passed by.

Zed was up towards the front of the bay now crowding in with two other mechanics working on a stabilizer. There was some back and forth bad jokes between then, then a hand slapped down on Zed's shoulder. And intake of breath coupled with dread took over as he stood and turned to face to owner of said hand. Pavel smiled down at him.

'That was a nice trick, having your friend cover for you. I told you that when I came back, I would see you.' The other two programs stared at the enchange from their crouched positions, but a glare from Pavel sent them back to work abruptly.

'I'm just . . . trying to make sure all your vehicles are ready.' Zed entertained a nervous chuckle, and Pavel slid an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. 'And you are doing a fantastic job. But now. . . ' he lifted Zed's arm by the wrist, eyeing the repair tool in it. 'Your shift is over. At least here on the floor.' Pavel took the tool from Zed and tossed it uncaringly aside. Zed gulped a little, looking down at the two programs. One was eying them both, but only offered a condolence shrug as he continued working. Then a sharp tug from Pavel guided Zed to walk with him to the rectifier that brought him and his squad. The guard at the lift up stepped aside to make way forthe two, and Pavel ordered him to stay put on the floor till he gave orders otherwise. Once the lift door shut, Pavel's arms slid loose, hand drifting over Zed's back and down to his waist. Zed attempted protest, but a sharp cluck from Pavel silenced him.

'I wasn't lying about what I said last time. THOUGH . . . I do have an extra caveat.' Zed finally turned, rolling his eyes as he looked towards Pavel's face. Pavel smiled a bit cruelly before continuing. 'If you say no, I will derezz your friends. Maybe I will start with that friend of yours that helped you dodge me earlier.' Zed turned abruptly to face Pavel more.

'NO! I mean . . . don't do that. They've done nothing! Why are you so fixated on me?' Pavel's brows went up. 

'Because I LIKE you.' Pavel stepped forward, his hand never having left Zed's waist, taking space from the other program as he backed Zed up to the lift wall. 'I can't tell you how many times I replayed our little meeting last time. I've even made a small request list for you this time around.' Zed felt a little sick again as Pavel just kept grinning. 'Besides . . . I find you . . . tantalizing.' He whispered that last word against Zed's skin, hands both occupied with rubbing over the circuit nodes at Zed's hips. 'Did you know you make the most wonderful low frequency noises when you are aroused? I rather want more of that for a while.' Pavel pressed against Zed, letting the other program lift his arm between them to block Pavel's chest from contacting his own, chuckling at the futile effort.

The lift arrived at its destination, and Pavel pulled back, turning to shove Zed into the control area of the recognizer.

'Everyone out and on the floor. No one returns to their posts till I give the say so. Make sure those tanks are in tip top shape.' The guards and sentries within rapidly filed out, but Pavel paid no attention to them as they jostled past. He only stared at Zed, who was doing his best to be anywhere BUT in Pavel's line of sight. Abruptly, the room was empty of any other presence, and Pavel paced slowly towards Zed like a very patient cat. Zed pretended to be very interested in the workings of the pilot array, moving down in an attempt to keep space between him and Pavel, then over to one of the guard alcoves, then a step towards the empty prisoner hold platforms.

Big mistake.

The platform activated, locking him in place. Pavel let out a self satisfied chuckle, and Zed turned to see his fingers hit the control panel astride the pilot array. 

'NO, LET ME FREE.' Zed panicked. Pavel clucked at him again.

' _No, let me free._ ' Pavel mockingly wheedled. 'There's that 'no' again. Maybe I should have the guards derezz that first friend of yours now.' Zed opened his mouth to protest, then caught himself from repeating the word.

'Please, I just . . . I'll do it. I just don't like being locked down.' He turned his attention back to his feet, looking for a release, though he knew there wasn't one. 

'. . . you'll do it, alright.' Pavel came up behind Zed, hands on Zed's nodes once more. Zed stood straight, tensing, and Pavel nuzzled against the back of his neck before wrapping arms around Zed's waist, his hips and thighs slowly pressing against Zed's backside. 'Put your hands up in front of you.'

'What?' Zed was caught off guard, not seeing anything to lean against initially. Pavel shoved him forward, and Zed thrust his arms forward to catch his expected fall, only to find a bar lighting up under his touch as he landed against it scant inches away. It voxeled into being first gold, then red. Zed attempted to right his balance by pushing up against it, and it reacted by springing clamps outward and over his wrists, the current tightening around Zed. 'Please don't do this! Not like this!' He stuggled against the bindings for a moment before Pavel slapped his hand over one of the manacles.

'What did I tell you about 'no'?' He circled out of Zed's sight swiftly, and punched at the pilot array. 'Zeta. Take the program closest to your position and derezz him.' Zed cried out at Pavel to not do it. 'Too late. I told you- no more 'no'.' An abrupt reberved voice came over the transmission and a quick garbled scream, followed by an affirmation. Pavel focused part of the screen on the bay floor, swinging the view over to the guard in question, bright blue voxels scattered around them. Pavel merely smiled and hit another button.

'Let me be clear. Your friend Zed is at fault for this. He said no, which is why your friend on the floor there is gone. Every time he refuses one of my orders, another one of you gets derezzed. Now finish the tanks.' He tapped the button off, turning to smile at Zed. 'That should clear things up nicely. Now where were we . . . ' he said, striding back over to the other program. 

Zed felt hands land against his shoulders, firm, fingers digging into his shoulders, then one hand, slow and deliberate, gliding along the broad strip of white that ran from neck around his dock, and sidled along his spine. The soft whisp of depixellization followed, and Pavel let his fingertips barely graze over the skin circuits that became exposed, tapping just enough to elicit tiny blinks of color shift. Zed bucked his torso forward slightly when Pavel leaned against him, tongue suddenly swathing over the fine lines that marked Zed. Zed caught himself wincing away from the touch, mentally discomfited by it. Pavel merely chose a single light, following it, slowly, deliberately, while his hand continued to drift down and open the way along Zed's waist and hip. The flat of Pavel's tongue pressed against Zed, covering skin and light alike, working down along the small track of circuitry that copied the light of the suit, dropping against the dip along the curve of the small of Zed's back before sliding across to the circular node just above where his hand had stopped. 

Zed closed his eyes, biting back his lip as the wash of skittering energy flux rushed his system. Pavel pulled away just long enough to see the node shift to bright purple before fading back to white as he kneeled, his other hand sliding down, brushing over Zed's ass and briefly cupping him before landing flat along his inner thigh. Pavel took his time, letting long fingers wrap around Zed's leg and pulling the suit into disintegration, fingertips steadily stroking light lines into blush before stopping midshin. Tongue returned to greet flesh and circuit, starting at the hip node. Zed hissed at the attention, struggling to keep from speaking out and inadvertently condemning anyone else to deresolution. Then he flexed under Pavel's touch, pulling away suddenly as Pavel licked along the curve of buttock and hit the dip of form where buttock met thigh. Pavel's hands slid forward, pulling against Zed's thigh, returning the mechanic to his previous stance, and he grumbled disapprovingly even as he resumed licking circuit. Zed shuddered now, muscles shaking under Pavel's hands as his mouth stopped at the soft flesh behind Zed's knee. There was a pause, tongue working in lazy circles as Pavel swabbed it over the neighboring circuitry, dipping down briefly against calf.

Then suction, hard, focused on that central circuit that ran directly center down Zed's leg, and Zed groaned. He sucked it back almost immediately, but not before Pavel heard. Zed felt the lieutenant smile against him, breaking the suction briefly before resuming, working upwards at the same agonizingly slow pace that he started with. Pavel's hand slid upward, following the soft form of Zed's inner thigh, only stopping when fingers hit the junction of leg and groin, then gently twitched aside, working under the edge of suit remaining, sliding to cup the length of Zed's reluctant erection briefly before sliding back out to resume derezzing suit. Pavel's attention to following the trail of light led back over hip and lower back, rising to stand once more as he did so, until he was at Zed's shoulder again, the suction against the circuit unrelenting. He brought his other arm up, hand gently sliding over bare skin and suit unti it pressed flat against Zed's chest, pulling him back flush against Pavel. Zed was breathing hard, still struggling to keep his mouth shut, eyes closed. Pavel finally drew his mouth away and set them against Zed's ear.

'I told you that you'd enjoy this.' His tongue flicked out and followed the curve of Zed's ear before biting down on it just hard enough to draw a cry from Zed. Zed's eyes were now open and dared to flick a glance over at Pavel. Pavel's gaze was laser focus, the hexes of his eyes locking with Zed's, and his grin widened. Zed opened his mouth to say something, but words failed as Pavel wrapped his hand around Zed's hardened cock, finally free of the remains of the suit. Pavel pulled back out of Zed's sight, and shifted to Zed's other shoulder, starting the whole process anew on the matching circuit on that side. Zed's circuits were now flush with lavender, the color at its most intense at his hip nodes. They only darkened as Pavel continued to suck at his flesh, the sensation now accompanied with the careful, almost gentle handjob that Pavel delivered in conjunction as he multitasked between circuit trace, taps, and licks. 

Zed couldn't keep a coherent thought in his head with Pavel effectively disrupting his system. The most he could do was grasp at air, wrists still locked to the brace bar in front of him. He gasped and moaned despite his best effort to contain his noises, each utterance only intensifying Pavel's attentions. Pavel eventually returned, covering Zed's back with his own body, hands sliding up Zed's arms and over his hands to curl fingers over Zed's as Pavel nuzzled against him. Zed was gasping at the momentary relief, his attention piecing back enough to realized Pavel was pressed hard against him, his hardness nestled along Zed's hard cock, and slowly rocking against him. Zed finally took control of his vocalization, tensing as he clamped down his vox and pulled away from Pavel the best he could. Zed was lit up like a street display, white gone and only purple glow lit him, but his motion only encouraged Pavel to thrust forward, pulling another unexpected groan from Zed.

'Yeah, you don't like this at all.' Zed could feel Pavel's grin radiating against him, and let out a small groan of disgust. 'I notice you aren't as talkative anymore. I was so looking forward to your sassy mouth.' Pavel dragged a hand up, expressly clawing over violet circuitry before pressing Zed to face him, jaw forced into a painful turn. Zed tried avoid Pavel's eyes, failing when Pavel jerked his jaw further.

'I have nothing to say.' It was a bit difficult speaking past a wrenched jaw.

'Oh you have plenty to say.' Pavel drew closer, lips brushing over Zed's cheek, breath ghosting over Zed's mouth. 'I can't imagine why you won't say any of it.' Pavel's voice had dropped to a whisper. 'I prefer my partners to speak their mind.' Zed snorted loudly, derisively, a moment of defiance, long enough to watch Pavel's face dip into his usual wild expression of disdain before his mouth was claimed almost violently, teeth digging into lip as tongue overtook any space within Zed's mouth.

Pavel shifted his hips, and Zed felt firm pressure at his port, then the slight sensation of motion behind it. Pavel ensured that his attention was torn between the tongueplay and scraping of fingers over magenta circuitry, making Zed squirm under his touch. Zed's breath was quicker the longer Pavel kept at it, and Pavel broke the lock he had on Zed, swabbing tongue over lips before pulling away, hands holding steady over Zed's arm and chest. Zed slumped forward a bit, body released from the strain of the awkward pose. Pavel's fingers were oddly a comforting sensation on him, then he realized Pavel was docked fully within him, thighs flush against Zed's backside, and only the smallest hint of discomfort pinging through his system. 

'I meant it when I said you'd enjoy this. I do ocasionally KEEP my word.' Pavel snorted, then slid his hands over Zed's back, splaying fingers over lightlines and stroking gently as his hips pulled back, matching the agonizing pace he had set earlier with his mouth before sliding forward again. Zed only whined in return. Pavel pushed down against Zed, forcing him to lean forward more until Zed's chin rested against the bar that held his bound wrists, then ran one hand up to wrap the back of Zed's neck before sliding into his hair, wrapping his fingers between the strands, gripping firmly. He continued his slow rocking into Zed, each twist of hip drawing impatient groans from the mechanic. It was obvious he fought to hold it in, but he was lost when he finally rocked back against Pavel. The grin that crawled across Pavel's face was missed by Zed, but not the sharp snap forward, driving Zed sharply against the bar with a cry of surprise.

'AHH! I THOUGHT . . . AHH!' Zed tried to speak, breath lost between each hard landing Pavel made against Zed's thighs. 'I THOUGHT YOU . . AAAAHHH! I WAS GOING TO LIKE THIS!' He felt Pavel draw to a stop, slowly completing his slide in before coming to a halt, then Pavel covered Zed's back to put his mouth against Zed's ear again.

There was a moment, only soft heat against the curve of Zed's ear existed.

'I . . . got . . . bored.' Pavel's slow whisper was punctuated by a shove of his hips, and Zed gasped. 'I said you'd enjoy it. Never said how long.' Then Pavel drew his mouth over that curve, lips sucking on the flesh of Zed's ear before pulling away. His hand let go of Zed's hair, then wrapped both around Zed's hips. Zed tensed, feeling Pavel slowly adjust his fingers, tips digging against the edges of his nodes. Zed attempted to pull forward, but Pavel locked fingers, sharply pulling back. 'Uh-uh. No more fun for you. My turn.'

Pavel moved with intent and fury, claiming Zed hard, fingers gouging discoloration visible even past the heavy violet hue infusing Zed's circuitry. Zed's cries grew louder with each piston, each clench that Pavel visited on him, and eventually teeth marred him as well as Pavel covered him, fingers clawing trails over every inch of exposed flesh he could reach. The enclosed space seemed to simultaneously echo yet swallow their noise, especially as Zed's cries dropped into something needy and wanton, infused with the rattle of digital tenebration, and Pavel's own gasps of need began to keep pace. Pavel brought one hand down Zed's chest from throat to groin, Zed's circuits flashing brighter as fingers swiped over them, then wrapped his hand around Zed's hard length. He continued thrusting hard and fast, driving Zed into his hand at the same pace, fingers always drawing over the head as he drew back. 

The coiling buildup in his core began to flood his system, carrying through circuit contact, and Zed abruptly stuttered against him, shuttering his hips forward without aid from Pavel, gasping hard as he came over Pavel's fingers, glow splashing over hand and floor. Pavel continued to thrust, even as overload hit and settled in his limbs. Only as Zed began to weigh heavily against his arm did he finally slow. He pulled free, then slid forward, covering Zed's shoulders with his mouth, roughness returning to gentle touch. His own effluence fell free, following a trail set by Zed's own circuitry. His arm remain wrapped around Zed's waist as his breath settled and he fought the urge to go into soft reboot.

Zed eventually returned online with a groan, instinctively pulling against his bonds. Pavel reached forward to tap the bar, derezzing it. Zed fell forward, pulling Pavel down on top of him, and immediately rolled to shove at the lieutenant and push him off, scrambling backwards against the window of the recognizer as he fumbled to rerezz his suit. Pavel merely chuckled as he rolled onto his back and let energy slowly creep back into his circuits.

'THAT was definitely the most fun I've had in this glitch heap the entire time I've been here.' He managed to push himself up onto his elbows in time to see Zed scramble to the lift door, trying to punch buttons for it to open. His smug chuckled caused a moment's pause, Zed turning to glare at the lieutenant still lounging and stripped on the floor.

'We're DONE, aren't we? I think I have WORK to do.' Pavel clucked, pouting a little at the rush Zed was in to leave.

'But we're not going anywhere yet.' Pavel's grin countered Zed's scowl as he gestured at the remains of their intimacy. 'I can't have you leaving a mess for my guards to walk through when they return.' Disgust washed over Zed's face briefly before switching over to masked aggrivation. He gestured as well, shoulders shrugging in tune with the swing of his arms. 

'Perhaps you should have thought of that before bringing me up here.' Zed crossed his arms, definitely not as confident as he wanted behind the sarcastic remark. Pavel's grin dropped as he stood, rerezzing his own uniform.

'That. Wasn't. A SUGGESTION.' He grabbed Zed's shoulder and swung him about, knocking against the back of Zed's knees, bringing him to kneel on the floor abruptly before dropping down over him, straddling the mechanic's thighs as he grabbed his hair in one smooth motion. Zed was abruptly shoved forward, face inches from floor and fluid. Pavel leaned over him, arm propping him up as his face closed in against Zed's. 

'I think you know EXACTLY what you need to do.' Zed dared another glance at Pavel. The lieutenant's face carried a noncommital smirk, but his eyes were lit with irate impatience. His usual mood, Zed thought. Then Pavel forced him closer to the floor.

'Tongue. NOW.' Zed scowled briefly until another firm shove set him in motion, lapping at the slick floor. Pavel remained astride Zed as the surface returned to its spotless condition, and only when Pavel was satisfied that nothing remained of their encounter did he finally stand, releasing Zed. He even helped Zed to his feet, confounding Zed for a moment till the lieutenant wrapped his hand around the back of Zed's head and pulled him into another rough claiming kiss. Zed's pushed against his chest hard, vocalizing his disapproval with the move. Pavel released him, then locked eyes as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

'Are we done?' Zed was definitely finished with Pavel's presence. Pavel nodded once, a small amused gesture.

'Done.' Then he strode to the lift and punched it back into life. Both programs ducked in, then travelled to the bay surface once more.

**********************

Everything back in order and the last of the maintance finished, the guards filed back to their respective vehicles and began emptying out of the repair bay. Repair programs filed out to mark the end of their shift and make way for the next. Pavel kept Zed at his side till the bay was nearly cleared before putting a hand on the reluctant program again. He watched Zed clench and unclench his jaw several times, fiddling with his data pad, pointedly avoiding meeting Pavel's gaze.

'I will be back.' He leaned forward and brushed his lips against Zed's ear, causing Zed to pull back as much as he could while braced by the lieutenant. 'Same rules, same game. I really do like you.' Zed winced as Pavel's tongue traced along his ear. 'So don't even THINK of missing your shift.' Pavel let go of Zed's shoulder, letting his hand slide down to swat Zed on the ass before finally turning to return to the recognizer. Zed glared at Pavel's retreating disk until he left the bay floor.

A voice behind him startled Zed enough to drop his pad as the recognizer lifted off and away.

'What was THAT about? You okay?' Beck came up alongside him as he stood back up, pad in hand once more. Zed let out a uniquely put upon sigh. Beck's eyebrows raised in remark to the noise.

'You don't EVEN want to know.' Zed stared at him for a moment. Beck tilted his head forward just a bit, waiting for Zed to say something else. 'Now since that freak has effectively made me a pariah here with his stunt earlier, I need a drink.' He declared as he turned on heel and filed towards the locker hall. Beck just shrugged and followed.


	3. Chapter 3

Zed shuddered, trying his damndest to hold his breath back, lock down the groan that wanted to tear out of him. He was bound again on the recognizer, arms pulled back behind him into a comfortable bracing lock. Tongue and lips and suction were all concentrated on that tiny circuit that traced the junction of his inner thigh and groin, and Zed was slowly shoving his hips forward, slowly inching into the sensation. It broke away and traced over the base of his cock, then across to the matching circuit on the opposite side. He jerked forward, into hands that glided over his thighs, grasping at hip and buttock, pulling him closer. That mouth was warm and wet, the tongue direct and exploratory, and Zed was finding that he had fewer and fewer reasons to reject Pavel's attention anymore, not when he was this incredibly, terribly good at teasing overload from Zed and leaving him an exhausted, satiated, thankful heap of code.

And overload came and spirited him into recoded dreams, fleeting moments of reboot before he woke to the sensation of flickering circuitry against his back, brushing against his own, a hand sprawled over his chest and pulling him down, and thighs splayed wide as Pavel thrust upwards into him, other hand straying over hip and stomach and cock, taking advantage of Zed's reclining pose against him. Zed finally gave up the moan he had held back for so long, and Pavel took him in earnest, using both hands to pin Zed's hips down while pounding away, splitting Zed apart. Pavel's mouth was on Zed's throat, his jaw, sucking skin and circuit, lapping at the bleedoff of Zed's overload. Zed reached back, grasping at the chair's headrest for leverage as he was bounced in Pavel's lap, his moans coming fast and sharp with their mutual ride. He dared turn to face to the side and Pavel claimed his mouth, tongue tracing over lips and teeth, and Zed returned the gesture.

Pavel grasped Zed in hand, stroking hard and fast, tandem to his thrusts, and Zed covered his own hand over Pavel's, fingers tightening over fingers and cock, pulling Pavel's hand into pumping him faster. Pavel obliged, his own thrusts slowing long enough to dump them forward, knees to the floor, thrusting hard against Zed as he continued to stroke, forcing Zed to lean forward, forehead to the slick floor, knees sliding apart for the intruder. Pavel's mouth was all over Zed's back now, lapping every circuit he could reach, licking around the circumference of Zed's dock, raising the pitch of Zed's moans until he was gasping for air.

Then there was the hot rush and tingle of overload, Pavel's circuits pumping power into Zed as well as wet light, making the slide of Pavel's entry reach even deeper, and Zed cried out, fingers clawing at Pavel's hips and thighs, dragging him down over Zed as reboot took hold, pulling Zed into his own second reboot, and pushing them both into unconsciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'You seem to be in a better mood this shift.' Beck's voice was over Zed's shoulder. Zed shrugged and hummed noncommitally as his fingers delved into the workings of the vehicle in front of him, holding back a small grin just out of sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'SO. Who is it?' Zed snapped back to the present out of memory file replay to Beck sitting across from him, smile plastered across his face. Zed dropped the hand he was bracing his chin against down to the table and dropped his own smile.

'Who's what?'

''Oh c'mon, Zed. You've been unusually high spirited for the last 6 shifts, and you've been noticeably GONE afterwards. So, who's the lucky program?' Beck nudged at Zed's ankle under the table. Mara suddenly dropped into the seat next to Zed, scooting over with curiosity eating at her as well.

'Yeah. Spill the bits.' She plunked her glass of rose-tinted energy onto the table, propping her hand on her chin with a smile.

'I . . . I can't tell you guys. It's kind of a . . .'

'Secret. SURE.' Beck snickered. 'Everyone's noticed. Not much of a secret.' Zed felt the color of his circuits shift as he started imagining the worst if they knew who it was. Beck caught the quick drop of amusement, and his playful grin vanished. There was a quiet moment of Zed uncomfortably ignoring both of his friends, and the gears in Beck's head spinning into motion.

'. . . oh, Zed. How. . . ' Zed shook his head almost imperceptably at Beck as his eyes slid in Mara's direction. She was distracted by her drink, watching the cube shaped bubbles scatter as she spun the straw in it.

'How what?' She looked back up at them, switching between Beck and Zed, eyeing Beck's suddenly serious face.

'You mean I covered for you that one time, and it really was for nothing?'

Zed slapped his hand against the table.

'It wasn't like this then. I really WAS trying to dodge him.' They glared at each other for a moment.

'Oh, Zed.' Mara knew EXACTLY what they were trying to NOT mention by name, and she facepalmed, her dismay obvious. Zed turned to stare at her. 

'Says the program who's all in over her head for the RENEGADE.' Zed immediately regretted saying that. His fingers couldn't cover his mouth fast enough, but Mara's expression was faster as she turned her face towards him, shock and anger covering her features.

'The Renegade doesn't derezz programs on a whim, Zed! He doesn't threaten everyone in the garage, he doesn't make a show of happily scooting innocents off to the games.' She reared her arm back and punched him solidly in the circuit junction on his shoulder, then once again, sending Zed cringing away from her slightly. 'Of all the thoroughly BITBRAINED THINGS, Zed . . . ' Beck's stern expression had melted a little into shock at Mara, but he did nothing to interject. 

'I honestly did it to keep him from DOING that. Every time I said no . . . you saw what he had done to Marex- I wasn't going to dare let that happen to you. I just . . . didn't expect it to keep going.' He slumped forward against the table, head hitting the surface. 'I didn't ever think I'd start liking it.' Mara softened momentarily but still angry, turning back to her drink, and Beck shifted his attention to the table surface, idly poking at the lip of the thing, but now the trio sat in uncomfortable silence.

'Well. . . ' Beck paused, thinking over his next words. 'If you . . . I guess if you like it. I can't argue that you're doing it for a . . . bigger cause . . . ' He rubbed his face, not believing what he was saying. Every instinct was telling him to hunt down the lieutenant and turn him into voxels, but he knew Pavel was just good enough with a weapon that it would be a difficult task at best. 'If something goes wrong, Zed? You tell us. I'm serious.' He poked his finger at Zed's scalp, getting the other program to look up at him. Zed paused before nodding, setting his chin against the table surface again. Mara merely shook her head at them both, lips downturned in displeasure.

Beck opened his mouth to say something else, but he stopped short as his gaze locked over Zed's shoulder.

'Speaking of the MCP. . . ,' his voice barely registered with the others before Zed felt a hand clamp down over his shoulder. Signals of circuit input identified his owner immediately, and his lines flushed lavender for the briefest moment. Zed saw that Beck's expression was one of clamped down concentration, gaze leveled in a showdown stare with the lieutenant.

'My little gridbug.' His fingers clamped tight around Zed's shoulder. Zed turned his head as he winced. 'Imagine seeing you here.' Pavel's face was his standard cruelly turned grin, his eyes locked with Beck's. 'I don't suppose I could pry you away from the paws of your equally glitchy friends, could I?' Beck let his expression slip, and a scowl crossed his mouth.

'I . . . I have to be back at the garage shortly, so I can't possibly. . . ' Zed was cut short with another digging in of Pavel's fingers.

'Oh, I think you can.'

'No, we're REALLY going to need Zed this shift. Able has some delicate, IMPORTANT work for him,' Mara piped up, arm threading around Zed's and pulling him away sharply from Pavel's hand. Pavel's eyebrows went up, a slow measured motion much like the turn he made to face her.

'More important than say, YOU? IN THE GAMES?' Pavel raised his other hand threateningly, a twitch away from calling blackguards over. Mara's eye's tightened, her grip on Zed deathly tight.

'DON'T!' Zed shrugged Mara off, but didn't move back to Pavel's hand. 'Don't punish them for it. Able told them to make sure I got to work on time. That's all.' Another uncomfortable pause covered the four of them, then Pavel lowered his hand.

'Then I suppose I will make this a brief . . . meeting.' His hand clamped down over the back of Zed's neck, pulling at him to slide off the bench. Zed compiled, standing up to step away from the table, only to be pulled a little closer to Pavel by a quick move on the lieutenant's part. Pavel looked from Mara to Beck, his seemingly content smile a threat to them both.

'He'll be at work on time, supposing that I don't have something more important for him to do . . . in the name of the occupation. Serving Clu is the greatest sacrifice any program can make, after all.' That got the reaction he wanted as Beck caught himself from throwing himself at Pavel, Mara barely containing herself as well. Zed made a pleading shake of the head at both of them, hand signaling to back off as Pavel turned away, pulling Zed along in what seemed like a friendly sling of his arm over the mechanic's shoulders, with a small squad of scattered guards following them through the crowd.

'UGH. That . . . GLITCH.' Mara growled as she slapped her hands against the table. Beck glared at the retreating pair till they were lost among the other programs.

'Just remember, Zed's going along with this to keep HIM from doing anything worse.' Beck didn't really believe in what he was saying, and he doubted Mara did either.


	4. Chapter 4

Pain shot through Zed, shoved hard against the wall, Pavel's arms having threaded under his, back over his shoulders, fingers locked behind Zed's head and forcing Zed's cheek roughly against the hard surface. Zed cried out, struggling to find leverage to push back, but Pavel pressed his weight against the mechanic, hips slamming hard against him, cock spearing him painfully. Pavel said nothing, only growled as he fucked Zed, pausing only to kick apart Zed's feet to drop the program a little lower before resuming his pistoning.

'AAAAGH users please AAAGH stop! Pavel, please! AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!' Pavel ignored Zed's pained cries, instead slamming home even harder, Zed only able to claw at the wall uselessly. Pavels' fingers dug into Zed's neck, adding to the pain. Zed was fratic now, trying to reach back and find a hold on Pavel, to find a circuit he could reach and claw into, but Pavel leaned back enough to slam Zed against the wall just hard enough to make his entire system hiccup, rendering Zed dazed as he continued his rushed assault. Zed braced against the wall enough to keep his head from banging up against it again, then Pavel was stuttering, his energy bleeding in a flash into Zed, followed with Pavel releasing Zed and pulling away before dropping back into the console seat. 

Zed slid to the floor, system spinning back up into focus and waves of pain. He turned, cradling his face where it had met wall, and ache jumped through his codeform. Pavel snorted and slid down in the chair, crossing his ankles while he rerezzed his suit and lay his head back, eyes closing. Zed waited, letting the pain fade into a tingle before he stood, looking down at Pavel and feeling the same fury dig into his chest as the last time the leiutenant had ordered his fellow mechanic derezzed. He walked over, straddled Pavel's outstretched legs, glared downwards. Pavel's eyes flicked open. Zed waited, and Pavel grinned.

'Liked it enough to want more?' He started to reach up when Zed's fist came down, landing solidly against prominant cheeckbone, shunting Pavel's head sharply to the side. Zed pulled back and struck again, rolling the both of them off the chair and to the floor. Pavel ducked aside quickly and grabbed Zed's arm only to receive Zed's head against his nose. They both scrabbled for a moment, then Pavel's free hand clenched tight around Zed's throat, digging into circuit as he squeezed. Zed pulled back sharply, inadvertantly pulling Pavel up with him, then they rolled back, Pavel pressing his weight between Zed's thighs as he dug in harder, fingers threatening to snap circuit apart.

'I'll take that as a yes,' Pavel drew out the hiss of the last word, leaning forward to suck on Zed's mouth as Zed slid his arms between them, shoving hard, scrabbling his hands over Pavel's chest before finding purchase against Pavel's throat, then his grip tightened, two hands around solid shell, digging under collar and into tender circuitry, and Zed put everything he had into it. Pavel gasped against Zed's mouth in shock, his hands suddenly having to claw at Zed's, gripping wrists hard and pulling them away as he pulled his body back. Pavel looked down at Zed, awestruck surprise meeting unexpected fury. 

Zed writhed in his grasp, but Pavel held him, working to keep Zed from pulling away and raining fists on him again. Pavel's thoughts raced against themselves, working out a solution that didn't involve derezzment as he focused his hold to keep Zed pinned, then he was bucked to the side as Zed twisted, a knee slaming into his side and pushing him off balance. Pavel let go, putting space between him and Zed and pulled his disk, aiming for a throw. He paused, and there was a glowing blade right against his chin.

'You got me.' Pavel smiled as he raised his hands in only half-hearted surrender, dropping his disk to the floor.

'Yeah, I do.' Zed stepped closer, letting the blade slip to the line of Pavel's jaw, then to the coat. Pavel twitched to the side away from the cutting edge, but Zed let it slice through the neck of the coat and set against Pavel's skin.

'What . . . what are you going to do now? I mean . . . you have the upper hand?' Pavel's eyes darted from blade to Zed, and Zed's expression was decidedly. . . unfriendly. Pavel pursed his lips as he fought for something to turn Zed's hand away, removing the blade that intermittently zapped against delicate circuit, a warning to not move or else. Zed glared, jaw flexing as Pavel tried a smile. The blade cut in, pulling a sharp cry from Pavel.

'THAT IS DEFINITELY-' The blade bit again. 'ENOUGH. I mean really, if you do anything to me . . '

'I get derezzed. Yeah, I understood that when you started this game. I was starting to kind of like it too, but this time . . . too much.' Pavel scowled, then made a quick move in. Zed was suddenly shoved offbalance, wrist with the baton twisted in an unnatural arc in Pavel's hand as he faced floor before he could blink. His elbow cracked hard against the surface as he tried halting his decent, then a boot against his dock pushed him down as Pavel disarmed him, keeping a tight grip on Zed's wrist.

'Really. You thought you had an opening? Quaint. This whole town is full of quaint programs, you included. I just hoped that . . you were a little different.' Then Zed felt alarms sound through his shell as Pavel wrenched and pulled just past Zed's wrist, spokes of pain following a sickening twist and crunch. Zed screamed, and a couple voxels . . . Zed's voxels . . . plinked to the floor next to Zed's face. Pavel clucked derisively, then dropped Zed's arm. He shoved Zed against the floor roughly as he stepped off, moving to recover his disk. 

Zed rolled on his side, pulling his arm up to examine it. Fine cracks of white glow ran from wrist to just past his elbow, pain scurrying over fizzling lightlines where his code was damaged and flashing warning. Pavel watched Zed as he also recovered the blade baton, now inert and harmless, and holstered it against his thigh.

'We'll not be doing THAT again, will we?' Zed slid back against the wall as Pavel stepped in his direction, Zed cradling his now damaged arm as well as he was able while keeping distance from the leiutenant. Pavel grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him upwards.

'I THINK I made a promise to dump you back at your garage so you can work. What better time than now, I believe.' An ugly smile crept over Pavel's face, but Zed met it with a determined glare. 

'Yeah, at least my voxels will stay where they belong there.'


	5. Chapter 5

Zed seized up when Pavel's hand suddenly graced the side of the vehicle he was currently working on. He mostly ignored it, pointedly focusing on the framework of damaged parts bleeding code in front of him.

Pavel waited, an amazing feat for the permanently irate leiutenant.

'So, you can't be here to apologize. That would be like asking Able to make me into a user. What do you want?' Zed never once turned to look at Pavel.

'I think you'd make a terrible user.' Pavel smirked at his own joke. 'I came to see if you wanted . . . payback.' The very idea of Pavel offering retribution made Zed stall, hands hovering over a trickle of code bleedoff, disrupting the stream of pixellated light. 'It wasn't very fair of me to not hold back, after all.' Zed's fingers curled, stopping short of making a fist. Pavel just stood quietly, only his hand still in Zed's range of vision.

'No.' Zed's fingers flicked over the broken part, twisting it out and moving it aside. Pavel leaned in closer.

'You can have me first,' the leiutenant whispered close to Zed's ear. Zed's hand nearly crushed the delicate code of the replacement part. 'I won't even react if you decide to do something questionable to me.' Pavel's lips were over Zed's ear, sucking along the curve of it. Zed shuddered, fighting the urge to pull Pavel down where to where those lips would cover his.

'Nnn . . . . n-no.' Pavel chuckled, letting the tip of his tongue trace a trail even farther along to the nape of Zed's neck, following as Zed made great effort to pull away. There was a shaky breath from Zed, one hand stopped short in his repair work. 

'Well, if you change your mind, I'll gladly play along.' Then Pavel's hand was sliding over Zed's lower back, caressing circuitry as it curved over ass, then patting as Pavel turned to leave and return to his transport. Zed was frozen in place, circuits flushed pink- marks of Pavel's touch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite Zed's determination to end things, he found himself with the leiutenant again. And true to his word, Pavel let Zed be the one in control. Not once did he try to wriggle free of the restraints he offered, not once did he complain when Zed bit down too hard on sensitive circuitry, not once did pain of Zed's enforced roughness overwhelm him.

Zed was almost more unnerved by the enjoyment Pavel was deriving from it than he was when Pavel's cruelty reigned.


	6. Chapter 6

Zed woke afterwards from sleep mode to a dark room. Sensation came first, notifying him of fabric beneath, then the gentle coolness of bindings around his ankles and wrists- he still felt the sizzle of post-interface in his limbs otherwise. The awareness that the darkness was artificial, a cover over his eyes blocking out any light, and the restraints on his wrists keeping him from reaching up enough to pull the blinder off. Zed entered a mode of panic, first to free his wrists, then pulling his legs upward only to find they were locked into place, spread wide. A warm hand graced his thigh, stroking skin and circuit along knee and shin down to the restraint on his ankle, setting it abuzz just enough to let Zed know it wasn't going to loosen, then over to the other leg, reversing the trip until it reached his chest, sliding under his wrists to grab the restraint that locked Zed's wrists together, pulled them overhead till Zed's arms were streched well above his head, then locked them into place. 

Zed pulled again against the restraints, even before his wrists were locked down, but to no avail, and his struggle was met with clucking full of mockery from Pavel.

'Remember way back, when we started this game?' Zed paused in his struggle at the question.

'When you forced me against Able's desk, or when you chased me up the recognizer? It's rather hard to seperate the two.' Zed made an honest attempt to sound at least a little irate. Pavel chuckled at Zed's false bravado.

'Oh, the desk, definitely. I said I'd keep you. And here you are, tied up like a gift for me.' Zed felt Pavel's warm mouth on his chest, heat curling the energy along his circuits, certainly riding straight into purple at the welcome touch, as much as Zed wanted to deny it. Pavel was amazingly skilled and Zed never stood any chance in fighting it. Tongue swabbed down the dip of Zed's stomach, trailing from one side then to the other, jumping between circuits until he reached Zed's cock, bobbing in response to Pavel's ministrations, then it was buried in wet heat, suction pulling hard on him and making him gasp with the heady sensation. He couldn't restrain himself, thrusting hips upwards for more, urging Pavel to use his tongue more around his hard shaft.

Pavel did more than that and sucked down the entirety of Zed's aching cock until it prodded the back of his throat, then pressed forward a little more. Zed groaned, a gutteral, basic noise which made Pavel blush in response, fuchia bleeding through his red lights. He took his time, sucking slowly and solidly on Zed until the mechanic was crying out, hips thrusting forward with rapid thrusts into Pavel's welcoming mouth, tongue playing across the sensitive circuits with each motion until Zed gave into the wash of overload, with the lieutenant sucking away his effusion of energy as fast as it poured forth. 

Pavel didn't stop. 

Even as Zed hiccupped to catch his breath, fighting the pull of reboot, Pavel led his tongue down between Zed's thighs. He straddled Zed's chest as he changed position, body shifting forward as his mouth followed the curve of Zed's inner thighs, tongue dipping past the heft of Zed's balls to the dock opening beneath. Zed bucked weakly at the invasion, but ultimately let his legs splay wider, and Pavel pulled forward, hand palming Zed's equipment comfortably, pleasurably, and his tongue delved deep. Fingers soon followed, stroking the circuit within, sending Zed into another round of writhing under Pavel's bulk, whimpering at the overwhelming sensation blocking the reboot process and around onto another pass that led to overload.

Then Zed had fingers in his mouth, nudging his tongue into motion over them. He licked, sucking hard on the circuit graced digits, then his jaw was forced open, and the solid girth of Pavel's cock nudged past, sliding over teeth and tongue, slowly nudging the back of Zed's throat before pulling back out. Fingers vacated, and Zed closed his lips over the head of Pavel's cock, sucking hard in response to the sensations emanating from Pavel's own ministrations, tongue penetrating him in a rhythm that had Zed bucking against him for more, groaning around the thick rod as it pushed deep into his mouth.

Then Pavel pulled his mouth away, hand moving up to wrap around Zed's cock as Pavel shifted back, forcing his cock deep once, holding until Zed started to shift uncomfortably, then vacated, smiling as Zed coughed to catch his breath again. He pumped Zed's cock, admiring the flush of violet that imbued the mechanic's circuits as he stroked, watching the subtle flashes of scintillation where his own circuits brushed across.

'What do you want, Zed?' Pavel's voice was little more than a whisper as he played with the circuits flowing over Zed's hip and thigh. Zed replied with something barely more than a whimper as Pavel continued to stroke. 'Just tell me and I'll do it.' He rose up off Zed, shifting to face him and straddled his weight over Zed's hips as he reached up and deactivated the blinders, throwing them aside. Zed blinked dazedly in the gold and red glow of the room, not bright, yet blinding, after an overload in the dark for Zed. He ducked his head against one arm to give himself a chance to adjust to the brightness, and Pavel ran his hands over Zed's chest, his arms, wrapping around his wrists as he laid his body over the mechanic's. Lips pressed against Zed's neck, soft suction against the circuits over his collarbone, tongue flicking against the main circuit.

Zed couldn't speak. He was beyond speech, only a knot of tethered circuits overloaded with too much input. He gasped, he moaned, he whimpered the more Pavel continued to play with his circuitry, pumping him with even more sensation. Pavel grinned maliciously at his overwhelming success at shutting Zed's cognitive functions down.

Then he reached back, pulling Zed's cock up to attention, angled in his hand as he pressed back, guiding Zed's rod to his own port.

'Nothing to say? No . . . preferences?' His heavy whisper dragged another half coherent whimper from Zed. 'Then we'll just improvise.' He steadily lowered himself over Zed's cock, and the mechanic bucked up reflexively, thrusting into Pavel hard. It was Pavel's turn to gasp, then he settled, completely enveloping Zed's shaft. He ground his hips just a little, enough to actually draw a cry out of Zed, then he leaned forward, releasing one of Zed's hands, then pulling his arm forward and drawing the long fingers to his mouth.

Another sharp rush of overwhelming electric stabs shot through Zed's system as Pavel wrapped one finger at a time in drifting tounge and electrified wet heat, sucking as he toyed with Zed's finger circuitry. The pings of ecstasy were no longer pleasurable for Zed- they were just raw disruptions, stealing away his ability to process thought and voice. Every moment he had that looked like he could string two words together were stolen away by Pavel's calculated explorations. Every stroke and lap and suck from the lieutenant were just pain, yet his codeform continued to respond to it all as if it were nothing more than pleasure. He tried pulling his hand away from Pavel, but he had no strength, and now Pavel rode him, slow and steady, ensuring the disrupting pings continued at a steady pace. Pavel chuckled at evey attempt Zed made to pull away, and Zed would have been enraged if he could just *think*.

Pavel continued to ride Zed languidly, enough to taste the hard rhythmic shock as it hit the finger circuits. The energy sizzled against his tongue almost uncomfortably, and he could only imagine how much worse Zed was feeling it, and he hissed in pleasure in response. Eventually Zed's vox locked up, and the most Pavel could get out of him were gasps. Pavel rode him harder, dropping his attention from Zed's hand and instead clawing the intricate tracery of light over Zed's chest, now tinged with warning red as Pavel neared his own overload. He leaned down and claimed what little noise Zed now made, mouth tenderly sucking on lips and tongue, then the coil in his core snapped loose, pushing him over into overload, quickening his motions, covering the space between them with light, smearing wetness between circuit contacts and sparking Zed's system even more. The mechanic's body abruptly locked up, mouth pulling away as his circuits flickered white, blindingly white, then snapped into the barest glow. Pavel sat up sharply, worry suddenly crossing his face, wondering what just happened.


	7. interlude

'What did you do to this program, Pavel?' Paige was poking through the code that displayed over the disk, bringing the disrupted pathways into tight focus in the display. 'If you were on route for rectifiying a program by hand, this sure isn't the way to do it.' She turned her head to face Pavel, who woke a mask of surprised shock.

'I'm appalled you'd think I'd DO THAT! I leave THAT sort of nonsense to the experts,' he said, hand over his chest in mock wounding. 'But seriously, Paige.' His voice dropped a bit, backed by the slightest tinge of expectancy to his expression. 'I need this one functional again. I'm not really sure what happened, but he's neccessary for . . . a few things. And you're the expert at fixing hiccups like this.' He twisted his mouth up into as innocent a grin as he could manage. Paige groaned.

'Now I know you're up to something.' She squinted her gaze at him, eyebrows cocking downwards before turning back to the disc display. Her fingers flew over resetting nodes and junctions, untwisting energy flows and repairing a broken line of code. Pavel watched intently, paying close attention for future reference. Then she was done, powering down the display and flicking the disc back to Pavel. The move was so quick and flawless, he wasn't expecting it. He fumbled with Zed's disc for a brief moment before getting a solid hold on it.

'Thank you so much Paige, I-' Her hand shot up, cutting him off.

'NOT. Another. Word.' She glared at him hard. Pavel cranked his usual snide grin up.

'As you wish.' He turned and left his fellow lieutenant in a rush, leaving her to wonder exactly what he was up to.


	8. Chapter 8

Another round of slowly dawning awareness had Zed wondering where he was. He was on his side, limbs still numb, but there was a heaviness against his back, arms draped around his torso and along his thoat, steady breathing against his neck. His processors were slow to spool up, synchronizing his internal clock with the grid, and opening his eyes when it finally clicked that he had been out of commission for three millicycles. He had missed two shifts. He tried shuffling over but his body wouldn't respond. There were no bonds this time- he was free, but . . . he tried reaching up for his disc, but it was trapped between him and . . . Pavel? . . . and his response was minimal at best. Zed groaned weakly.

Pavel shuffled against him, pulling Zed closer as he nuzzled, sleep cycle still in control. Zed gave in and just slipped back into standby mode in the dark room. It was the only thing he could do for now.

The next bout of wakefulness found him alone briefly. He barely had enough energy it seemed to roll over, and then Pavel was hovering over him, leaning over with a glass of energy. His face was unreadable as he pulled Zed up into a sitting position.

'What happened?' Zed sipped at the liquid, barely able to keep hold of the glass.

'Not . . . really sure. But you're fixed now. Back in working condition. . . ' Pavel flitted around his quarters, intent on something other than Zed for once, facing anywhere but the program's direction as he started to feel the energy settle in his body again. Zed's entire codeform ached as if he had fallen from a great height- there were twitches and stabs of energy flux in his arms and over torso circuits that were dissipating the more energy he drank. Glass empty, he set it aside and fell back against the bed, closing his eyes as his circuits resumed normal function.

Pavel watched peripherally, never quite looking at Zed. He tapped away at data pad and console, working in silence till Zed sat up again and rose from the bed finally. He only made a couple steps before he stopped, swaying from a bit of dizziness. Pavel stayed his ground, watching Zed with something akin to studious apathy, lower lip jutted forward in concentration leftover from his work. Zed looked up, meeting Pavel's gaze.

'That must have been some night if I'm this worn out.' He chuckled, but there was a definite lack of confidence in his voice.

'I'll take you back whenever you're ready.' Pavel's voice was low and humorless, and Zed eyed him.

'Something wrong? I mean it was a rough bit of . . . fun, but I don't. . . '

Pavel pulled his lip back, taut with restrained thought.

'What happened, Pavel?' Zed drew himself up, walking to the lieutenant. 'What did you do to me?'

'I broke you.' Zed flinched back, and Pavel turned back to the console. 'I had to have your code repaired, and you need time for the repairs to finish taking. I took some . . . liberties . . . in adding a few upgrades so that won't happen again.'

'Just . . . like that.'

'You weren't in any condition to refuse. Not when you were bleeding power.' Pavel tapped away at some foreign project on the console, Zed unable to make sense of it in just a quick glance.

'You always struck me as someone willing to toss a busted program. You don't make any second guesses about derezzin-' Zed suddenly found himself sprawled on the floor, jaw suddenly spiking pain, Pavel standing over him and pulling his striking arm back to his side.

'I WILL finish the job if you want me to.' He kneeled down, leaning closer to Zed. His voice dropped to a hiss. 'I actually enjoy you. Don't make me regret that.' His eyes focused hard on Zed, and Zed returned the glare, jutting his jaw forward defiantly, the two holding the standoff for a few nanos. Then Pavel's familiar smirk returned, eyebrows raised into a bemused expression, almost bereft of the maliciousness just a moment before.

'There's the feisty program I chose.' He reached forward and stroked Zed's face briefly before standing again, smile dropping as he returned to his work. Zed stalled before getting to his feet, confounded again by Pavel's fluid moods. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'What happened to you? We were about to send out a search team.' Beck straddled the bench next to Zed. Zed had his disk out, poking through his code and had focused on an in-depth display of his circuitry nodes, several marked by flashing red triangles of upgrade. Beck leaned forward, eyeing the new info. Zed didn't turn.

'Pavel happened.' Beck's face fluttered through shock into the beginning storm of anger. 'He fixed it, but . . I don't know what he did. I don't remember. He just gave me some upgrades along with the repairs.' Zed pursed his lips and powered down his display, returning the disc to his dock. Then he faced Beck.

'Don't do it.'

'Do what?' Beck's voice was heavy with an edge of anger. 'Derezzing might be too good for him.'

'Don't.' Zed stood. 'I'm fine. Really I am. I just wish I knew what these upgrades are going to do.' He rubbed the back of his neck absently. Beck watched intently.

'Maybe you should have Able. . .'

'No. Not dragging anyone else into this mess. I just want to get back to work, honestly.' He smiled briefly 'Never thought I'd say I missed working my shifts.' Then he was heading out to the floor, leaving Beck a little less angry at Pavel and a little more confounded at Zed.


	9. Chapter 9

Pavel was noticeably scarce for a stretch, leaving Beck and Mara to claim Zed for their after-work outings once more when not staying out of trouble while the Renegade wreaked havok for the occupation. Zed refused to talk about it, and they refused to ask. It was just nice to have a semblance of pre-occupation normality again as they returned to old haunts. 

Pavel did return, twelve cycles later at the exact end of shift. He waited outside of the garage, out to the edge of the transport track, leaning patiently against his conveyance. The trio paused as they exited the locker storage, hidden from the entryway of the garage by a row of mid-upgrade bikes awaiting service. Mara grabbed Zed's arm and pulled him to a halt.

'Don't go. We can just . . .' she quickly gestured towards the lift up to the second level that led to a general walkway to the city's center. Zed caught her off guard as she was swept up into a tight hug.

'No. I don't need to run.' He smiled at her as he let go, and she shot her bewildered gaze at Beck, who was already gearing up restrained rage as he glared in Pavel's direction. 'I'm really ok.' He clapped his hand on Beck's shoulder as he strode towards the entryway. 'See you later, guys!' Mara closed her mouth once Zed was out of earshot.

'What is WRONG with him?'

'I've given up trying to figure out. I just want to sink my disc into that occupation brute.' Beck clenched jaw and fist as he focused all his attention on Pavel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were barely in the conveyance, destination input and vehicle in motion, then Pavel was on Zed, hands and fingers and mouth over every circuit across Zed's torso. Zed's immediate reaction was to shove him off, having expected more of a breather before Pavel wanted intimacy, if what Pavel EVER wanted could be called that. Pavel let himself be pushed away briefly, hands still wandering as a smile danced over his face, accenting his full lips.

'Still not ready for this?' Pavel's fingers derezzed bits of Zed's suit, even as Zed stalled his explorations. Zed's circuits were already infused with purple, spreading fast. 'But I've missed my delicious little gridbug terribly.' He leaned down, mouth sucking on the wide expanse of circuit over Zed's chest, making Zed catch his breath sharply before he shoved Pavel back upright in earnest.

The smile disappeared, replaced by a furious scowl at the rebuff. Zed returned the look, then grabbed Pavel, hand curling behind the lieutenant's head.

'STOP. Calling me. Gridbug.' Then Pavel was drowning in the sudden rush of energy transfer introduced between their circuits, Zed having pulled him tightly in, swallowing his mouth in a hard kiss. He was offguard for a brief tick, then he was smiling against Zed, hands sliding around him, fingers clawing into the circuits over the mechanic's back, then his head was being forced back, fingers in his hair clamping tight and pulling. Zed took his turn biting at Pavel now, derezzing the material along Pavel's throat, exposing the sensitive lines and introducing his teeth as he squirmed to straddle the lieutenant. Pavel only had a high pitch resonance pinging through his voice as he groaned in surprise at the move, his hands moving down to claw at the lines decorating Zed's ass as he pulled in close. 

Any remains of material seperating them were gone, all skin and circuit contact as Pavel could only hold on as Zed settled, riding him while he employed teeth and nails and sucked hard against any circuit he could reach, overwhelming Pavel at his own game. Pavel wasn't even able to create space to shift between them as Zed pinned him down tight against the seat. He was heady from Zed's sudden enthusiasm to return every pain and ache and pleasure he ever endured at Pavel's hands, then the lieutenant was hitting his limit, coming hard within Zed, arms locking tight around the mechanic's shoulders as the sensation overloaded him and left him struggling to stay online. 

Satisfied, Zed sat back, rolling his hips a few more times against Pavel's lap, his circuits heavy with an almost ultraviolet tone that bled across to Pavel where their bodies met.

'I hope you're going to be up for more than just this before my next shift rolls around.' Zed grinned as he licked his lips, Pavel's expression betraying a wild mix of satisfaction and shock. The conveyance beeped as it slowed, arriving at their destination.


	10. Chapter 10

Pavel had brought them to a more secluded, less frequented club for spending their company together, multiple rooms linked by floor embedded trails of deep blue lights, and walls that fluttered with low light geometric textures that obscured everyone's features. Only program circuitry betrayed if any individual was occupation or independent function, but it didn't matter here. The ambiance only served to wind everyone's code up with dizzying input, spiking everyone into some shade of purple. Even the drinks seemed geared for teasing arousal between programs with their shifting tones and glowing purple ice. Zed was still wound into that ultraviolet state, and it almost worried Pavel, as Zed was all grabbing and close attentions, keeping Pavel close to the edge of overload himself.

"Get us drinks, will you,' Pavel nudged at Zed for a moment while scanning for an unoccupied alcove. The music was less rhythmic thumping and more constant hum and buzz through his circuits, much more preferable to his current mood as he spotted one and strode down the short causeway and glowing steps to it, ensuring he was well within Zed's line of sight as he sprawled back against the curved couch, arms taking residence over the back of it. The momentary relief of constant input from Zed's fingers gave him a little breathing room, and his circuitry wound down a touch. His mind wandered as he leaned his head back against the seat, rolling over the sudden change in Zed. He liked it, but it wasn't like the other program to so willingly give himself up. Pavel preferred a little bit of fight for the prize. 

He mulled over the upgrades he had added, wondering if he needed to tweak them before or after their next round, but Zed interrupted his processes by sliding over his lap again, holding a gently glowing gold drink to Pavel. There were bright patches of almost pink in sections of Zed's circuits- shoulder mostly, thigh and hip as well. 

'Getting friendly with the other patrons?' He took the drink in hand and brought it up for a sip.

'Only to get past them.' Zed scooted closer, sliding over Pavel's hardening cock again. Pavel let his free hand slip over the pink on Pavel's hip, curling around to his back and sliding up to toy with the edge of Zed's disk. Zed leaned down, interpreting the move an order to get closer, and started sucking against Pavel's lips, working his tongue past teeth and into Pavel's mouth. Pavel took the distraction and popped Zed's disk loose, pulling it around and pushing Zed back as he took another drink and then put it aside.

Zed grabbed Pavel, fingers clamping down over hand and disk.

'What do you think you're doing?' Pavel stared up at him, contemplating an answer. He pulled his hand from under Zed's, but Zed gripped his disk tight.

'That upgrade I made- seems I need to tune it a bit.'

'I don't think so.' Zed jerked his disk back, wrenching it out of Pavel's grasp. Pavel's hand went up and clawed over Zed's collarbone and throat, pulling him down to close the space. 

'You're not going to have a -' His words were cut short as Zed twisted his arm between them and pried Pavel's hand loose, twisting it around painfully and pinning it to Pavel's chest. 

'Yes, I do.' He replaced his disk to the dock at his back, then brought his hand forward, curling it over Pavel's throat in turn. 'I think I like it just fine.' He pressed his weight against Pavel, locking him back against the seat, fingers tightening and his hips rocked over Pavel's lap. 'I think we had another round of interface planned, because that's the only reason I can think of why you brought me here.' Pavel hummed out an abrupt response as Zed claimed his mouth again, grip relaxing on his pinned arm enough to push it aside and lean forward, circuits sliding hard over Pavel's chest and restoring the heavy purple color that bled from Zed.

Pavel was suddenly VERY concerned for his code as Zed derezzed his suit for the second time, exposing him to the fluctuating lights of the club and Zed's very determined mouth.


	11. Chapter 11

It was a fight for dominance at every turn over the couch. Zed would claw at Pavel too much, and Pavel would turn and pin the mechanic, only to have the effort met with even more vigour from Zed encouraging Pavel to be merciless with every touch or thrust. Pavel made a few attempts at depriving Zed of his disk again during shifts of their bodies, only to be blocked by Zed rolling onto his arm or kicking him up, keen at every try. Eventually Pavel gave up and just concentrated on punishing Zed, fucking him hard sprawled across the back of the couch, fingers twisted onto Zed's hair, pulling back with each hip thrust forward. Zed took every shove, every slide, every grab and bite Pavel had in him. The color of his circuitry was locked into that dark purple, every shuffle of their entwining limbs resulted in a shuddering half overload, but there was no slowing him. Pavel eventually had to stop, unable to endure another round of sensitive orgasm, and pulled off, holding Zed off at least temporarily.

A stroke of inspiration had Pavel waving over other programs to have their turn at Zed's unflagging need for interface until he recovered. But the nagging worry at the back of his processors grew louder, and once he was fully down from the headiness of interface, he claimed Zed for his own again, forcing the program to cool down under Pavel's weight, shifting the gears from heated and urgent to something decidedly slower.

Purple eventually gave way to chilled blue and Zed gave into a full reboot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'I really, REALLY can't believe you have the audacity to call me to a place like this,' Paige hissed at Pavel just barely discernable over the music. Her red lines stuck out like a warning sign in the club; not even Pavel's were quite back to normal, muted by the last traces of arousal.

'I had to. There's an issue with the upgrades, and there shouldn't be. My work installed correctly, so I can only assume it has to be a glitch in the interface between YOUR repairs and the upgrades.' Pavel's attempt at smug disapproval in Paige's direction only made her laugh. Trying to lay blame on her when all she did was reset his previous damage was a new one, though she wasn't surprised. She looked over at the unconscious program sprawled all over the couch, surrounded by spilled drink and a couple other programs more obviously interested in each other than the situation in front of them. She stomped over, rolled Zed over on his side, and pulled his disk off. Pavel hung over her shoulder, just a move away from snatching the disk from her hands as she activated the display and plowed over the information parked within. She scowled as she saw line after line of warning red in the depths of Zed's coding.

'Lovely.' Her voice was barely a whisper. 'Pick him up and bring him back to the ship.' Pavel's face dropped at the order of physical labor.

'Why. . .' 

'He's *your* toy.' Her eyes bore a hole into Pavel, then she punched the display off and pulled the disk to her side. He cut his rebuttal short and instead rolled Zed into his arms, hoisting him over his shoulder, and the small group retreated from the club.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the lift, Paige looked over at Pavel, amazed that he actually chose to carry the inert program himself, slung over his shoulder like a garment.

'What?' His accompanying scowl almost brightened her shift.

'I've never seen you so intent on *fixing* anything before. It's . . . . almost . . . endearing.' She turned back to face the door, fingers running along the inner track of Zed's disk as they finished the ride to the repair chambers. Once inside, Zed was dumped unceremoniously over a table, Pavel eager to watch every edit Paige made to the scrambled code. Even he was appalled at how much red was buried in it, line after line of jumbled characters eating away at the stable blue. Paige's fingers flew through it, but even she was slowed to a crawl despite her progress. Pavel eventually bored of watching her, keen enough to not interrupt as she worked and instead went back to Zed, at first straightening him on the table, then after a few nanos of fidgeting, leaned against it tiredly, taking uncharacteristic care in tracing over Zed's circuits as he idly lost himself to thought as he leaned his chin in his hand.

'I found your problem, Pavel.' He snapped back to attention and turned, ready to snap up defending himself with a sneer. 'This program isn't meant for TWO tier 5 upgrades. He can only handle one, and only a three tier at that.' She glared at him from across the room.

'And?' His eyebrow went up.

'He's not a security program, you bit. I figured you of all programs would know this.' Pavel scowled, but realized she was right. A simple mistake, all on him. 'I'm surprised he didn't melt down before I showed up.' She turned back to fixing the last of red-lined code, then pulled the disk from the edit console and brought it over, tossing it at Pavel's chest. He caught and clamped it tight, turning over a number of possible replies before settling on one.

'. . . thank you, Paige.' She reeled back a touch, visibly disturbed. Her eyes narrowed, expecting something else. 'I mean it.' She flicked her gaze back to the offline program, then back to Pavel. She merely nodded, then vacated the room.

'It's all on you now,' is all that she said as the doors slid shut behind her. Pavel slid the disc between his hands for a moment before turning to slot it into the mod install console over Zed, pulling up the display to remove and edit the disc code.

'I hope this works a little better. . .' he muttered, then he committed himself to delicate work once more.


	12. Chapter 12

Zed woke to jostling, the shift of body and weight, then a groan at his ear. He was vaguely aware that he was clawing at something, holding something large and heavy to him, over him, and the whimpering moaning noises were erupting from his own throat. His senses slowly rattled into place, linking all input into a coherent thought stream, and it finally conveyed that he was pulling Pavel down onto him while the large program forced his thighs wide, pounding relentlessly deep into Zed, groaning as he lapped and sucked at the lines decorating Zed's throat, shoving Zed rhythmically along padded cushion and slick surface, his hand sneaking between their bodies to grasp and pump Zed's hard cock. Zed finally managed to control his limbs enough to wrap his long legs around Pavel's midsection, triggering a round of even harder thrusts, accompanied with biting, teeth digging hard into circuit, and Pavel's groaning dropping so low that Zed felt the reverb of resonance rattling through him. 

'You're online,' Pavel said breathlessly as his teeth dislodged from Zed's flesh. Zed moaned approvingly, clawing his fingers over Pavel's back. 'Good. Your turn to do some work.' He rolled over, dropping to Zed's side with nearly no warning, pulling Zed over and nudging him to roll on top. Zed sprawled over Pavel's chest, kissing a line along Pavel's throat and up to his mouth as he shifted into line over Pavel's cock, sliding back into place over it, breathing out another moan against Pavel's mouth as he docked completely. Pavel's hands wandered, tapping gently line after line along Zed's body before grasping his hips, nudging him to start moving. Zed started to rock, the shift of his hips abrupt and quick, trying to match the speed which Pavel left off at, only to be pushed up and have his hips pulled forward, shifting his whole body to center over Pavel's cock, leaving him no direction to go but upwards. A couple of experimental bounces over Pavel and then he was riding the lieutenant hard, Pavel groaning approval as his hips rocked upwards as well. 

'Talk to me,' Pavel managed to hiss between thrusts.

'What?' It took Zed a couple of slides over Pavel's cock before it registered that Pavel said anything.

'Tell me what you want. I want to hear what you want. Order me to do things to you,' Pavel's thrusts were harder with each utterance, and Zed's own motions slowed as he tried parsing what it was Pavel was asking him to do. Zed ground his hips slowly against Pavel as he thought, playing his fingers over the lieutenant's magenta flecked circuits, growing heavier in purple with each motion he committed to.

'Take me back to that club.' Pavel slowed to a halt as he stared up at Zed. Zed leaned forward, propped up on his arms and hanging over just out of Pavel's immediate reach. 'Take me back and tie me up. Fuck me hard, make a show of it, make other programs use me.' Pavel froze, immediately racing every connection in his head wondering if his repaired mods took or if there was still something amiss.

'Why?' It was a wary test of Zed's coherence.

'I liked it. I want more of it.' Zed leaned down, draping himself over Pavel and sucking gently at first on Pavel's ample lower lip, tracing the edge of it with his own before sliding his tongue past.

'You weren't . . . bothered by it?' he managed to vocalize past Zed's wandering explorations.

'No.' The answer was slow in coming, a subtle whisper, but Zed began to rock onto Pavel's cock again, raising himself to finish the ride. Pavel's smile was wide and wicked as he picked up speed and forced Zed fast and hard over the edge of overload.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zed ran though his following shifts with no issue, no complaint, no hiccup in his code. Beck and Mara remained clueless about the close run-in Zed had with his upgrades, and as much as Beck prodded, Zed couldn't give him an answer. It was business as usual otherwise. Beck was bothered by it, enough that he finally cornered Zed by the lockers.

'So. How are things . . . going with the lieutenant? I notice he's been pretty scarce around here.'

'I told you I'd keep him out of everyone's hair.' Zed closed his locker and faced Beck, cocking his head studiously at Beck's worry. Zed stared at Beck's chest terminator, fixated with the odd pulsing in the light that he had never noticed before. Beck was still talking but it melted into wordless noise in Zed's ears, then he found himself poking his finger along that circuit, trying to feel the pulse, and it shut Beck down with a start.

'Zed? What are you doing?' Zed's finger slipped from the white over to the blue-green of its neighbor, following the disruption.

'Hrm?' Zed wasn't actually paying much attention, and Beck grabbed his hand, pulling it off him. Zed snapped his gaze up at Beck, who stared back, a mix of surprise and worry.

'What is going on with you?' Zed opened his mouth to reply, then realized he had no words to explain what he was doing, suddenly aware that he didn't actually know. He slipped his hand free.

'I'm . . . sorry, Beck. I just . . . I think I need to take a micro and just sleep.' He straightened up and started to slip past Beck, but his friend stopped him, hand flat against his chest. The sudden flux of sensation flooded him, sending him shuddering, and a wave of purple coursed outwards from the contact, startling Beck into recoiling, staring first at Zed, then at his own hand. Zed himself had absently brought his hand to where Beck's had touched, fingers dragging over and sparking more purple.

'I . . . really should go,' he stuttered shakily as he brushed past Beck quickly, leaving Beck utterly confused at his friend's behavior.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Zed lay draped half across his recharge panel, lazily tracing his chest circuits, trying to puzzle out why he reacted the way he did. Beck's circuits had fluxed from steady to suddenly pulsating with hiccups, visibly worse in some lines than others, and Zed could *feel* it. It was beyond his understanding. It had never happened before, and it left him unable to slow his mental processes down enough to commence rest. So instead, he lay there, staring at the single trace of blue light that sliced a track diagonally across his room's ceiling, fingers playing over his own circuitry, both sensing the flux in his own energy and maintaining a low level arousal that flushed through his system. Cycling between the two states eventually created a sense of near hypnosis, dulling all other input as he fixated on the flux between the sensations.

The sensation fed on itself, echoing, zoning his consciousness into near-rest after long nanocycles, and he could almost swear the echo came from a secondary code. It reminded him of singular circuit interface, something he hadn't done with another program in a long time, and it soothed him.

Until his tracing fingers hit another set of fingers, resting gently over his lines and he swiftly refocused to the now. The echo wasn't imaginary. Beck sat next to him, watching as Zed's hand slid to a halt.

'What . . . ' Zed made a small effort to sit up, but Beck pressed back, keeping him down. He looked Zed squarely in the eyes.

'What did you do to me earlier?' Zed watched as Beck tapped at his terminator. 'It's been buzzing ever since.'

'I don't know . . . I mean I saw your lights flicker a bit, but I didn't think I did anything.' Zed saw it again, heavy disruption in the arm that held him down, and he reflexively put his hand over the broad track along Beck's arm. He felt it, the flicker like a tapping under his palm, and he rubbed along the circuit gently, sliding his hand down to gently circle Beck's wrist. 

The flicker followed his touch, pooling at the joint, then faded out entirely, leaving a lavender hue mingled with the teal of Beck's wrist. Beck slid his hand away abruptly, rubbing at it as if easing away an ache. Zed sat up. Beck just stared at him.

'What?' Zed was more confused now, with Beck grabbing his hand and bringing it up to rest on his chest. 

'Do that again.' Zed shrugged, not really comprehending, then he felt it- the same pattern of tapping, the flush of light dimming under his fingers before softening and returning to a steady burn, infused with a tint of purple along the edges of white. Zed pulled his hand away, looking at it like it were an alien install.

'He turned you into a siren.' Zed shot his gaze up to Beck, who looked about as shocked as Zed felt.


	13. Chapter 13

Pavel's wide, cocky grin slid away as he approached Zed, standing out in the open air of the former games platform, currently occupied by the broken reminder that Clu claimed Argon now. The smaller program stood, arms crossed, seeming to barely acknowledge Pavel as he drew close.

'Now what has my little gridbug in a tiff this time?' He pouted coyly as he reached forward and slid appreciative fingers up Zed's arm, watching the quick flash from white-blue to pale lavender. He couldn't help bit smile a little as he watched the lavender pulse through in a wave through Zed's circuits before raising his eyes to Zed's face. Instead he saw Zed shift, then a fist coming at him. Pavel shifted too late, and Zed connected, knuckles cracking hard against the base of Pavel's jaw, knocking him off-balance. Pavel whipped around to face Zed again, reaching to grab his disk to defend, only to find Zed rendered immobile, grasping his wrist, his whole hand radiating pain, and sinking to his knees as his circuits fluxed through colors erratically.

The mods had finally taken. Pavel smiled, an ugly, possesive grimace, as he replaced his disk and walked over to the smaller program, curled over, the pain occupying every inch of his processor. Pavel's hands settled gently over the circuits of Zed's back, stroking almost tenderly till lavender soothed the color shifts into something more stable. He kneeled down, reaching for Zed's hand, holding it firmly as his other stroked from Zed's cheek down the side of his neck and collarbone.

'What did you do to me?' Zed lifted his face towards Pavel, his face a mask of heartbreak. 'WHY DID YOU DO THIS?' Pavel let his brow curl up in concern, shushing Zed as he let his arm drape across Zed's shoulders.

'I told you. I never once made any effort to hide what I wanted.' His fingers rubbed along the back of Zed's hand, thumb working away the last pangs of sharp ache through Zed's palm. 'You're mine.' Zed glared even harder at Pavel, and the lieutenant smiled. Zed almost believed it was innocent. 'NOW. We're going to pick you up and redress you for a little fun tonight.'

'. . .what?' Zed's brow darkened.

'You yourself told me you wanted to go back to that club. Well I've set things up for the next microcycle for us.' That gentle smile didn't waver, but Pavel's eyes were hard. Zed felt something inside him go cold even as Pavel manipulated his circuits, gentle touch making him hard and expectant of the action to come.

'I . . . no . . . I don't . . . ' Pavel clucked at him and pulled them both to their feet. Zed knew he would. His own programming was betraying him as Pavel pulled him into the car, sliding in after, his hands never leaving Zed's body. The increased sensitivity to the input turned Zed's resistance on it's ear, and it was horribly few nanocycles after setting into motion towards the destination Pavel chose that Zed was in Pavel's lap again, frantically grinding against the lieutenant for purchase, riding him for the release Zed was dependant on now. Pavel never stopped smiling.


End file.
